Journal Abstracts

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Research which studies family grief in response to perinatal loss (the loss of a child before birth, during birth, or immediately after birth) generally has focused on parental grief and rarely included sibling grief. The emotional burdens from unresolved grief that surviving siblings experience can be carried into adulthood and are insufficiently understood. Siblings in families bereaved as a result of perinatal loss suffer in two ways: they mourn the loss of their expected sibling and they mourn the loss of the parents as they knew them prior to the loss.

Dr. Bobbi Jo Lyman passed away on May 4, 2011. For nearly two decades, she passionately devoted her life work to the field of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology (PPN) and the message that our earliest life experiences are of vital importance.

This article identifies an issue within the discipline of prenatal and perinatal (PPN) psychology, namely that the field currently consists of individual practitioners’ modalities without empirical validation around treatment efficacy. The goal undertaken was to integrate the PPN literature related to adult psychotherapy into a coherent and practical model to serve as a guide for students and professionals that could also be empirically tested.

Historically, the practice of treating adults for prenatal and perinatal trauma has consisted of individual practitioners’ modalities that lacked empirical validation around treatment specificity or efficacy. Yet, their commitment to understanding the origins of behaviors has provided hope for clients challenged with life-long problems. This paper describes, based on a review of the literature, a first step towards integrating prenatal and perinatal psychology theory and practice knowledge with current case formulation and evidence-based practice models.

The somatoforn cluster of behavioral disorders is the single most frequent class of unexplainable problems found in primary care medical settings today. What is known about these disorders is that there are physiological, social, and psychological variables that need to be considered. What is not known is how a person develops a propensity toward having physical symptoms as their primary complaint. The author suggests that human beings are classically conditioned when faced with intolerable emotional experiences in the womb or during birth.

It takes much neglect, rejection, humiliation, physical maltreatment and sexual abuse to transform a tiny, trusting, innocent human being into a callous, cruel, and vicious person. This paper examines some of the factors that lead to the development of the violent personality from conception on. It is suggested that the answer to violence is not state violence. The answer is conscious pre and postnatal parenting supported by social institutions, laws, and practices which attend to the needs of pregnant parents, particularly, the disadvantaged.

Abstract: The cosmologies of many cultures use gender as symbolic for polar attributes of human consciousness. The author presents a developmental neurobiological theory to account for the non-arbitrary way in which this attribution comes about, and applies the theory to an explanation of the symbolic use of gender in Tibetan tantric Buddhism. He concludes by discussing the implications of the theory for understanding the effects of positive and negative pre- and perinatal experiences upon the development of gender identity.

Abstract: In the 1980’s parents in large numbers were first introduced to the sensitive, perceptive, conscious, and cognitive prenate. This paper summarizes the evidence from major research findings, demonstrating that prenates are 1) sensitive and aware, 2) learn and dream, and 3) are social and communicative. Well-designed experimental programs in prenatal enrichment confirm the intelligence and receptivity of womb babies. A closing section describes the special resources now available to parents who want to deliberately enhance prenatal bonding and communication.